IIHF News - Kyrgyzstanhttp://www.iihf.com/
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1816IIHF News from www.iihf.comTYPO3 - get.content.righthttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssTue, 31 Mar 2015 23:03:00 +0200Challenge Cup of Asia growshttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9102
Tournaments in Taipei, Kuwait; premiere for Oman The three tournaments are in particular aimed at Asian countries that don’t yet fulfil the minimum participation standards for the World Championship program but can compete with each other at regional tournaments with participants from the Middle East and Far East.

On the men’s side defending champion Chinese Taipei will host the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of Asia in Taipei City, 14-19 March 2015, with the United Arab Emirates, Mongolia, Thailand and recently promoted Macau as the other participants.

The Division I event that will be held in Kuwait City, 18-24 April 2015, will grow to up to six teams with the men’s national teams from Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Singapore, India, Malaysia and Oman intending to participate. For Oman, who became IIHF member in 2014, it will be the first participation in an IIHF event.

Taipei City will also host the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey Women's Challenge Cup of Asia Division I from 6th to 8th November. The other two participants are Hong Kong and Thailand.

Together with the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship Division III Group A from 22nd to 28th March 2015 it will be three IIHF events to take place in Chinese Taipei.]]>on topIIHFChinese TaipeiHong KongIndia MacauMalaysiaMongoliaSingaporeThailandTue, 09 Sep 2014 10:59:00 +0200Tiny Macau wins on icehttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=8594
Claims inaugural Challenge Cup of Asia Div. I Click here for scores, stats, and photos.

The team, which won just one game out of three in the preliminary round, found a spark in the semi-final against Singapore, winning 2-1 in a shootout to set up a championship matchup with the host nation Kyrgyzstan. Macau’s offensive engine revved up in a big way in the final, outlasting a four-goal second period from the Kyrgyz to win the championship 5-4.

Macau’s matchup against Kyrgyzstan in the preliminary round saw the host country come back from a 1-0 deficit to win 3-1. The championship game might have followed the same script if not for Macau’s goaltender Chu, who faced down an incredible 91 shots on goal from the Kyrgyz.

Both teams traded goals in the first and second periods, until late in the second when Kyrgyzstan jumped ahead 4-3 on a pair of scores from Kanaibek Omurbekov and captain Amanbek Esen Uulu. A goal from Macau forward Cho Nin Ho tied the game up again and closed a wild second frame that saw a total of seven goals scored.

Chu would shut the door on Kyrgyzstan the rest of the way, and forward Zihang Lin scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period to win the tournament for the Macanese.

Omurbekov claimed the tournament scoring title with ten points, including eight goals, in five games. Two of the three Directorate Award winners were forward Kim Kei Mok and goaltender Te Lin Chu were selected as the two top players of the tournament at their positions (Daniel Chew of Singapore won Best Defenceman honours).

The Division I tournament was created in August 2013 as part of a restructuring effort for the Challenge Cup of Asia. The tournament took place in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek and included Kyrgyzstan, Singapore, and India. Macau, the winning team of the inaugural Division I Challenge Cup of Asia, will advance to the Top Division next year.

For Kyrgyzstan, a fledgling hockey nation, the tournament can be counted as a success despite the host team falling in a close final. This was the first major international ice hockey tournament that the nation hosted, and in the final game over 1,100 fans turned out to support the teams. Having only recently the IIHF in 2011 there is plenty of room and lots of opportunity for this Central Asian nation to continue developing its hockey program. ]]>on leftIIHFMacauSingaporeKyrgyzstanIndia on rightMon, 03 Mar 2014 10:19:00 +0100Asian events restructuredhttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=8090
Challenge Cup events set; bigger focus on developmentThe Challenge Cup of Asia will be restructured with two divisions on the men’s and women’s side.

Focus on development

Naturally development had the highest priority in the meetings and the Asian Group’s targets were set in close co-operation with the IIHF Development & Coaching Committee. Last year’s successfully implemented Coaching and Officiating Education series for instructors will be extended for the duration of four years with the goal of building up a special instructor pool for national associations.

In the U18 category the focus will move towards more development after the evaluation of the U18 Challenge Cup of Asia events. It is planned to organize a U18 Development Camp in Chinese Taipei in the upcoming season.

As the youngsters are the future, the Asian Strategic Planning Group wants to offer these athletes opportunities to collect international experience that they can share amongst each other back home. This kind of model can be very successful and leadership seminars for coaching and officiating will be part of the camp.

Challenge Cup of Asia restructured

With 10 teams participating in last year’s Challenge Cup of Asia in Thailand, the number of participating teams in this category has reached its all-time high. For next season the men’s category will be played in two divisions at two separate venues similar to the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship program.

This will give teams the opportunity to have more quality games, make hosting the event more practical and ensure the development at the same time.

After each season the bottom-ranked team from the top division will be relegated to Division I and the Division I winner will move up to the top level.

The top division will be organized in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and the Division I tournament will be played in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, which will participate in the event for the first time.

The Women’s Challenge Cup of Asia will grow significantly to eight teams split into two divisions. Some of the top Asian countries together with Australia for the first time will play in Harbin while a Division I event will be played with new countries in international women’s ice hockey including Singapore, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and host Hong Kong.

“All in all it was a successful meeting with the goal of bringing Asian countries closer to the level of hockey in Europe,” said IIHF Asian Sport Development Manager Harry Springfeld. “Having a very healthy, development-oriented and structured system will be the key for success.”

]]>on leftIIHFChinese TaipeiHong KongMongoliaThailandKuwaitUnited Arab EmiratesKyrgyzstanIndia Tue, 27 Aug 2013 18:07:00 +0200Teaching the teachershttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=8040
55 Learn to Play Program instructors ready for the youngestThis program targets instructors who teach hockey to children under the age of 10. It is split in two parts: LTP1 with the slogan “Make It Happen” with focus on recruitment, on basics and starting a program and it is followed by LTP2 with the slogan “Be World Leading” for the next age group and taking the program a step forward to make it world-class.

The Learn to Play Program is run for the tenth year while it’s the second time the LTP2 is offered.

The instructors of the two groups have had class-room sessions every day. They learn about athletes’ development, teaching skills and team play, organizing practices, recruiting players, about equipment, goalkeeper-specific coaching, how to communicate with the boys and girls and how to be a leader and mentor for the youngest players.

As we entered the room, one of the mentors, Johan Bollue from Belgium, talked about recruitment and simple measures to make their clubs known even with little or no money, such as presence and promotion at the ice rink, organizing second-hand equipment markets, having a website and preparing material for journalists.

Then a representative from Bauer, one of the manufacturers that are part of the IIHF’s Supplier Pool, came in and had the opportunity to talk about hockey equipment, to show how to wear it correctly and to answer questions from participants, who then had the chance to have a look at the hockey gear.

“The Learn to Play Program is for training the coaches or coach leaders in different countries to run the Learn to Play Programs for young children under the age of 10,” said Kevin McLaughlin from the United States, same as Bollue one of the IIHF Development and Coaching Committee members present at the camp.

“It talks about how to structure a practice, how to run a recruitment program, how to organize coaches, practices and a season that’s very age-appropriate for kids of five- to ten-year-olds. The most important thing is to make hockey age-specific for these children.”

McLaughlin and the mentors work together with people from many nations at very different levels of hockey development.

“It’s challenging and also exciting and fun to have people from so many countries. There’s a lot of experience and knowledge from the different people where hockey is growing,” McLaughlin said.

From the class room it went to the ice, to work within the group and later during the day with daily ice sessions with 140 local kids between the age of five and ten that joined the program that’s supported by ŠKODA, the long-time official main sponsor of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.

That’s when the instructors were able to practise what they’ve learned and test their skills – especially those who hadn’t had this experience before. After the sessions it went right back to the class rooms for a video session and feedback from the other students and the mentors.

Children between the age of five and ten get hockey lessons from international students. Photo: Toni Pylvänäinen

“I like the program very much,” said Sakchai Jinanuwattana from Thailand. “I come from officiating and was in an officiating program at the camp once but this time it’s different. I’ve watched kids play many years and have knowledge as a player but now I see a different perspective from people who really know how to coach kids from the beginning.”

“Back in in Thailand, I will have a meeting with all the coaches that are interested in what I learn here because I’m the only coach participating from Thailand. I will talk to them how we can improve hockey in our country.”

Thailand is one of the newer and faster growing hockey markets in Asia. The national association climbed up the ladder in the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia and tries to improve to one day make the World Championship program.

“We are slowly developing our hockey. We don’t have so many players but recently we had more kids playing hockey than ever before, but they usually start at six or seven,” Jinanuwattana said.

“Now we have over 100 kids under 13 or 14 years old. We have more interest than before which is good. Most kids play in the Bangkok region where we have a couple of rinks and very soon we will have some smaller ice skating sheets in the north and north-east of the country where we can have children’s and recreational hockey.”

The ambitious program in Vierumäki doesn’t give the participants too much time to check out the lakes or saunas here in Finland, but it will certainly give them a full backpack of skills and new material when they go back to their countries and help fellow instructors and become mentors themselves.

One country even had its premiere. Elzar Bolotbekov and Mirlan Dyikanbayev were the first representatives from Kyrgyzstan to take part in a Hockey Development Camp and they were split in the LTP1 and LTP2 programs.

“It’s our first experience in IIHF activities. Our country became member just two years ago and we are happy to take part in such a useful and important activity. We want to learn here as much as possible that we can spread what we learn in our republic,” said Dyikanbayev.

“Our ice hockey federation was created recently but in this short time we have reached much and won the Premier Division of the Asian Winter Games so we want to set ambitious targets for the future.”

Elzar Bolotbekov and Mirlan Dyikanbayev are the first Kyrgyz to take part in an IIHF Hockey Development Camp. Photo: Martin Merk

Among the instructors there are several women. Among them is Inese Geca-Miljone, who brings with her vast international experience. The 35-year-old represented Latvia in the Women’s World Championship program for the first time in 1995 and most recently last April when she played for the first time on the national team together with her daughter, Liga Miljone, who was the scoring leader of her team as a 16-year-old.

While her daughter will move to Swedish top team MODO Örnsköldsvik for next season, Inese Geca-Miljone is not sure yet whether she will continue to play next season. What she certainly knows is that she wants to help the next generation of hockey players after having played for 23 years.

“I like this program. I was here already as a coach of a girls’ team at the 2012 IIHF Hockey Development Camp,” she said. “I’m interested in the Learn to Play Program because I’m coaching boys and girls at the Hockey School Riga and I profit a lot here.”

“So many people have so much dedication to get this program going in their countries,” McLaughlin said. “Some of them translated it through their resources or universities to other languages to make it available in their own countries.”

If you want more information on the Learn to Play Program you can find resources as printable PDFs here.

Also material of the Recruitment Program is available for use in several languages.

“The hockey is based on the Recruitment Program and the type of entry programs they run to make kids interested and keep them interested in the sport where maybe hockey is not a traditional sport,” McLaughlin said.

“It’s about making it exciting and creating passion for the kids to play hockey. We have to compete with other sports and we want hockey to be the most fun and most attractive sport so when the kids play they get hooked.”

MARTIN MERK

Group photo of the local children and the instructors of the IIHF Learn to Play Program at the 2013 IIHF Hockey Development Camp. Photo: Toni Pylvänäinen]]>on topIIHFWorldsWomen20 United States12 LatviaBelgiumThailandKyrgyzstan2013 Camp HDCFri, 12 Jul 2013 09:00:00 +0200Champions in the worldhttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=7108
51 league winners from Australia to the U.S.

Australia:

Melbourne Ice (2011)

Austria:

Black Wings Linz

Belarus:

Metallurg Zhlobin

Belgium:

HYC Herentals

Bulgaria:

Slavia Sofia

Canada (Memorial Cup):

Shawinigan Cataractes

Canada (Allan Cup):

South East Prairie Thunder

China:

Qiqihar

Chinese Taipei:

Taipei Wolves

Croatia:

Medvescak Zagreb

Czech Republic:

HC Pardubice

Denmark:

Herning Blue Fox

Estonia:

Kalev-Välk Tartu

Finland:

JYP Jyväskylä

France:

Rouen Dragons

Germany:

Eisbären Berlin

Great Britain:

Belfast Giants

Hong Kong:

Coors Light Hongkong

Hungary:

Fehervar AV19

Iceland:

Björninn Reykjavik

Israel:

Maccabi Metulla

Italy:

Bolzano Foxes

Japan (Asia League):

Oji Eagles

Japan (nat'l league):

Nippon Paper Cranes Kushiro

Kazakhstan:

Beibarys Atyrau

Korea:

HighOne Chuncheon

Kyrgyzstan:

Arstan Bishkek

Latvia:

Liepajas Metalurgs

Lithuania:

Energija Elektrenai

Luxembourg:

Tornado Luxembourg

Malaysia:

Asian Tigers Kuala Lumpur

Mongolia:

Zaluus San Ulaanbaatar

Netherlands:

Smoke Eaters Geleen

New Zealand:

Botany Swarm (2011)

Norway:

Stavanger Oilers

Poland:

KH Sanok

Romania:

HSC Csikszereda

Russia:

Dynamo Moscow

Serbia:

Partizan Belgrade

Slovakia:

Slovan Bratislava

Slovenia:

Olimpija Ljubljana

South Africa:

Gauteng Miners

Spain:

CH Jaca

Sweden:

Brynäs Gävle

Switzerland:

ZSC Lions Zurich

Thailand:

Hospital Blades Bangkok

Turkey:

Baskent Yildizlari Ankara

Ukraine:

Donbass Donetsk

United Arab Emirates:

Dubai Mighty Camels

USA (Stanley Cup):

Los Angeles Kings

USA (NCAA):

Boston College

]]>on topClub01 Austria02 Belarus03 Canada04 Czech Republic05 Denmark06 Finland07 France08 GermanySat, 11 Aug 2012 13:50:00 +0200Hockey Day in Kyrgyzstanhttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=6192
Ambitious new IIHF member undergoes first hockey auditThe Central Asian country that lies between Kazakhstan and China was accepted as the 70th IIHF member by the IIHF Annual Congress in May. Last winter they won gold in the second-tier ice hockey tournament of the Asian Winter Games.

IIHF.com asked the Canadian based at the Vierumäki Sports Institute of Finland about his impressions from the recent trip and his work with the audits.

Tell us a bit about your recent trip for the audit to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.

It was a well-organised audit by the local federation. You could see that they are excited to be a member of the IIHF and they really pushed to speed up the audit process and to have it early. After their success at the Asian Winter Games they’re now really motivated to do well internationally. That’s why they joined the IIHF. They want to compete in the IIHF World Championship and of course before they compete we need to understand their programs better. We need to understand what they have and what their current situation is. Because they really want to participate as fast as possible they pushed us to do the audit as quickly as possible, so I went there together with Harald Springfeld, our Asian Sport Development Manager.

What impression did you get?

It was only a three-day audit, but it was organised very well. They wanted to make a good impression and also organised meetings with various politicians like the Minister of Sports, the Prime Minister, the President of the Olympic Preparation Centre and the Mayor of Bishkek to discuss the future of Kyrgyz hockey. Our impressions were quite good. For a country that’s so young in the IIHF and rather small in the number of registered players they have a lot of attention right now because they won a gold medal in the Asian Winter Games. They have a lot of opportunities to develop because they have the commitment and backing of the political leaders. In this sense it’s a very promising nation because they have something that a lot of other countries don’t have and that’s really good communication lines with the political leaders.

What are Kyrgyzstan and its capital Bishkek like?

Bishkek is kind of a big city of about one million people. It is their largest city. It’s quite clean, with most buildings being from the Soviet times.

I didn’t see much of the country because we were only there for three days and it takes a lot of time to go through all the documents. But I heard that the country is very beautiful and they gave us a DVD so we can see what we missed.

In Bishkek we went to the ice rink and for lunch we went to these traditional yurts, some kind of tents, and we had horse meat, one of their national dishes. Once we also ate at the president’s building, which is also called White House in Bishkek.

Actually their one ice rink was pretty nice. It’s relatively new, just three years old, and it was in good condition. But they forgot benches for the players and officials. They have doors so the players have to sit in the stands, which might be interesting for the fans.

Did you watch a game there?

We did watch an exhibition game. Their league is split up into three mini-tournaments, but two of the teams that compete in this national championship played an exhibition game while we were there so we could get some kind of impression.

What’s most surprising is that there are also many older players who are still playing. A lot of players were over 40 years old and there was one player who was about 63. We have to keep in mind that there is only one indoor ice rink in operation right now. Therefore most of the teams are practising outdoor. That’s why their practice time and levels are not quite up to normal standards, although some of the players were pretty good.

There are also some Russian players who are playing in Kyrgyzstan and some of them are also living there.

Was it easy to communicate with the people during your trip?

We had a very talented translator in Kyrgyzstan, otherwise it would probably be difficult. Most time they spoke in Russian, but they also have their own language, Kyrgyz. When we were at the rink we also met some parents who were expats from North America. They and their kids are also playing ice hockey.

Did you have any special experiences during your time in Kyrgyzstan?

There was one evening we had a traditional Kyrgyz sauna night. The sauna was a bit like a Finnish sauna and they had a pool area where we were able to go. Afterwards they had set up a dinner where you could go between sauna and eat your food. And there it’s apparently a tradition to bring their guests of honour a head of a lamb. So they brought in a cooked head of a lamb and put it in front of us and asked us to cut up the head. This was an interesting experience. It’s something I haven’t been given before.

How many audits do you usually do per year?

It depends on the year. Last year was a rather quiet year, but we’re averaging about 20 audits per year. We’ve done totally 48 national association audits and seven female-specific audits for top countries.

What are you looking at when you go to a new country like Kyrgyzstan for an audit?

For a new member we’re mostly looking at what exists and what doesn’t. We need to know what opportunities there are for them and also for the IIHF. It’s a good opportunity for them to learn about our programs, not only the World Championship but also for example the Recruitment Program or the Learn to Play Program or that they can participate in Development Camps and look at our officiating manuals they haven’t been exposed to before. We’re also looking at their total structure and their organisation and strategies, their short-term and long-term goals. We are looking at all their programs and everything they do as a national association from organising their annual meetings to league operations. We’re giving them some directions on what they’re missing and what they could do and we give them some options and ask them to make decisions on where they want to improve and what is their priority and make it work together with us.

Do you actually rate the countries?

We give developing hockey nations a score based on what they have and what they do not have. We do that by going through their strategies and all their programs and give points for what they have and how it is used within their organisation. Like that we’re also giving them some kind of direction because all these programs are weighted according to importance.

What are the main goals of the audits?

The main premise in the end is to give us and our committees a better understanding of how the countries work and how we can better support them and develop programs that will address actual needs and not just perceived needs. Like that we can make decisions based on facts we know rather than what we think we know. At the same time we give countries a tool, the audit report, so they can address their weaknesses and address areas they want to focus on.

Which audits will follow in the next few months?

This year we are starting with the audit for the top-13 nations. These audits will be a little bit different. It will be more about benchmarking and collecting best practices and finding good examples that might benefit the other nations. And we want to analyse new trends and what the national associations identify as weaknesses and where they want to go.

The Ice Hockey Federation of the Kyrgyz Republic lists 218 registered players from six clubs in as many cities. There are three ice arenas in the capital of Bishkek – one of it with an international size ice sheet (60 x 30 metres) and 900 seats – and additional natural ice rinks throughout the mountainous country.

Gornyak Ak-Tuz became Kyrgyzstan’s new champion in March after defeating 2010 champs Khan Tengri Bishkek 15-2 in the gold medal game. It was the third time a national championship was conducted in Kyrgyzstan.

One youth club, Ilbirs Bishkek, has taken part in the championship of neighbouring Kazakshtan since 2010.

Ice hockey was introduced in Kyrgyzstan in the Soviet era when kids saw idols like Kharlamov, Mikhailov, and Tretyak on television, but it started to become an organized sport in the mid-2000s.

Kyrgyzstan had its international debut in the recent Asian Winter Games in Astana, Kazakhstan, where it won the second-tier event (Premier Division) with a 6-0 record, finishing sixth overall in men’s ice hockey at the event.

“After the success at the Asian Winter Games, the interest in ice hockey has increased in Kyrgyzstan,” said Anvar Omorkanov, the President of the Ice Hockey Federation of the Kyrgyz Republic, who was also one of the players on the national team.

The organization gets the support from the country’s President Roza Otunbayeva, who received a national team jersey with the number 10 recently.

“We believe that we will raise this wonderful, dynamic sport in Kyrgyzstan to a new level. We need to educate a new generation of hockey players and our priorities are to develop youth hockey, the national championship, construct ice rinks and establish a professional club.”

Click here for the country page of Kyrgyzstan on IIHF.com.

Argentina’s status upgraded

The congress also changed the status of the Argentine Ice Hockey and Inline Hockey Association from an affiliate member to an associate member.

MARTIN MERK

The Kyrgyz national team poses for a team photo after winning the Premier Division of the Asian Winter Game’s men’s ice hockey tournaments. Photo: KIHF

]]>on leftIIHFArgentinaKyrgyzstan2011 WMon lefton righton rightSat, 14 May 2011 09:20:00 +0200Double gold for Kazakhstanhttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=5324
Asian Winter Games host defeats Japan in game for goldIt was the long-anticipated game between Kazakhstan and Japan that decided about the best hockey team in the 2011 Asian Winter Games. Four years ago in China, Japan succeeded with a 3-2 victory over Kazakhstan, but the Kazakhs were eager to avenge the loss on home ice in Astana.

These two favourites faced little challenge against the other participants of the men’s ice hockey’s Top Division at the Asian Winter Games. Bronze-medal winner Korea, China and Chinese Taipei were simply outperformed in their games against the two Asian hockey powers. The Kazakhstan-Japan match-up in the round-robin tournament on Sunday also became the predictable gold medal clash.

The first period ended scoreless with a 18-6 shots-on-goal advantage for Kazakhstan, but the Japanese remained dangerous with both teams enjoying two power plays each in the first part of the game.

Yutaka Fukufuji, famous for becoming the first (and so far, only) Japanese to play in the NHL for the Los Angeles Kings in the 2006-2007 season, had a strong game in the Japanese goal with 47 saves, but the Kazakhs eventually broke the deadlock before the end of the middle stanza.

Yevgeni Blokhin scored the first goal with 74 seconds left in the second period when his shot hit Fukifuji and the puck dropped over the goal line. Ilya Solarev made it 2-0 just two seconds before the buzzer by capitalizing on a lucky bounce from the lively boards.

Kazakhstan had a two-man advantage in the beginning of the third period and just when the first Japanese came back from the penalty box, defenceman Maxim Semyonov added the third goal for the home side.

The marker still didn’t break the Japanese resilience and the men from the land of the rising sun tried hard to come back, but it didn’t result in more than Jun Tonosaki’s consolation goal at 8:37.

Roman Starchenko made it 4-1 with his tenth goal of the tournament four minutes before the end of the games – and the celebrations in Astana could begin.

Click here for the scores and standings from all ice hockey tournaments.Click here for the official 2011 Asian Winter Games website.

Asiada Notebook:

Both the men’s and women’s ice hockey tournaments ended with the same outcome as Kazakhstan won the most important game against eventual silver-medallist Japan. Korea won the bronze medals in the men’s event, China in the women’s tournament.

The Asian Winter Games were organized by the Olympic Council of Asia and the teams were selected by the National Olympic Committees. It mostly included the national teams known from IIHF events and the IIHF Rule Book was used, although, IIHF eligibility rules were not in place.

13 nations participated in the ice hockey events and totally 27 countries took part in the Asian Winter Games. India and Qatar also planned to participate in the men’s Premier Division, but eventually had to cancel the trips.

The event also included two nations that are not IIHF members and who were represented internationally for the first time; Kyrgyzstan and Bahrain.

After the experience with lopsided scores between the top and bottom Asian nations in the past, the men’s teams were separated into two tiers based on the performance in the IIHF’s World Championship program and the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia. The final standings of the second-tier Premier Division: 1. Kyrgyzstan, 2. Thailand, 3. United Arab Emirates, 4. Mongolia, 5. Malaysia, 6. Kuwait, 7. Bahrain.

The Kuwaiti ice hockey national team played under the name “Athletes of Kuwait” and used the IOC as the team’s abbreviation and the Olympic rings as its flag. The reason was that Kuwait’s National Olympic Committee had been suspended by the IOC since last year because of alleged political interference by the government. However, athletes were allowed to participate in the Asian Winter Games.

Barys Astana took a 16-day break from the Russian Kontinental Hockey League to loan their players and their arena for the Asian Winter Games. The Kazakh team will conclude the KHL’s regular season with a road trip to Nizhni Novgorod, Yaroslavl and Mytishi after the February international break, but their playoff participation is almost ensured with a 12-point gap to Traktor Chelyabinsk, the ninth-placed team in the Eastern Conference.

The Asian Winter Games were declared closed by long-serving Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev. Kazakhstan might use the experience from hosting the Asian Winter Games for a 2022 Olympic Winter Games bid. There was a bid from Almaty for the 2014 Olympics that didn’t make the IOC’s shortlist.

The flag of the Asian Winter Games was given to the representatives from Sapporo, Japan, where the next Winter Asiada will be held in four years.